Some macro shots - not one for bug haters!

[Dr. Z]

Some from this week! :)

http://www.statichiss.co.uk/CRW_8201s.jpg

http://www.statichiss.co.uk/CRW_8150s.jpg

http://www.statichiss.co.uk/CRW_8124s.jpg

http://www.statichiss.co.uk/CRW_8112s.jpg

http://www.statichiss.co.uk/CRW_8129s.jpg

http://www.statichiss.co.uk/CRW_8163s.jpg

http://www.statichiss.co.uk/CRW_8154s.jpg

http://www.statichiss.co.uk/CRW_8113s.jpg


http://www.statichiss.co.uk/CRW_8128s.jpg


All taken with my Sigma 105mm Macro and 430EX. For some (Definitely the ant shot, not sure about some of the others) I used stacked Kenko extension tubes.

This was physically the most demanding 'shoot' I have ever done - the heat / humidity was almost unbearable and my clothes were wringing wet afterwards!

[Mark]

Fantastic. Usually when I even think about taking a picture of a butterfly they just fly off. I do have a few pics to process but they're nowhere near as detailed as those. I did once get a fantastic shot of a crane fly that was so dopey it couldn't be bothered to move and just sat there for 10 minutes posing while I shoved a camera up it's backside, but that was a very rare exception. :D

I just wish I could take photographs even one tenth as good as some of those I see here and the other place. :(

[Stan_Lite]

Truly stunning shots Durz - the detail is fantastic :cool: (love the ant shot).

Thank you for sharing your talent with us :)

Stan :)

[Dr. Z]

http://www.statichiss.co.uk/CRW_8160s.jpg

http://www.statichiss.co.uk/CRW_8131s.jpg

A couple more that I forgot to upload :)

[Haly]

Very nice shots :)

[Dr. Z]

number 7 is amazing - they all are - but that one 'talks' to me :)


Thanks :)


It's about the enjoyment you get taking the photos as much as the end result. Keep plugging at it and I'm sure you will/do take pictures every bit as good :)

Absolutely. Having the "right" kit only goes so far. I only picked up a camera in anger for the first time ever just over a year ago! Its all about the practice you get and how hard you work to learn all the parameters at first, then getting the shots comes a bit easier :)

Being exceptionally critical and not being afraid to bin shots that you arent happy with helps an awful lot too :)

[Mark]

OK, maybe you're right, to a point. I can do ninja, sometimes.

http://www.ouroboros.me.uk/img/06/07/mothra.jpg

Found this attached to a wall last night (so no context, sorry). Closest camera to hand was the compact, which I seem to be more successful with than the big thing I've got as well. Didn't have time to fiddle, so left it full auto and ninja'd. The poor sod took a faceful of flash and flopped around like it had been on way too much alcohol. :eek: :D

I can fully understand people having phobias after seeing that face. Definitely not one I'd want to see up close on a lonely, dark night. Consider the flashbulb as revenge if you will. :D

[Will]

Do you ever sell your photographs? You could make a packet I reckon.

Some amazing shots there - truly awesome.

[Dr. Z]

Do you always use black borders on your shots? If so, why?
I think I prefer the butterfly shot without the border, but I can't put my finger on the reason right now.
I agree that the snake one is my favourite :). Where were they taken?

Its not a snake ;)

I tend to put a border on my shots yes, because almost always they look incomplete without some kind of framing. Its a psychological thing. They arent always black but they are almost always block colours so as not to be distracting :)

They were taken at a place called Butterfly World which is next to Dobbies garden centre. The falconry thing there had been moved to some castle health spa type thing somewhere else, which was a bit annoying :(

@Will - as macro shots go, those ones are "easy"/average to take. Nobody buys shots like that really, and there is certainly no way I am anywhere near good enough to go professional. Think of it like Gilly and bowling, its that sort of perspective :)

[Will]

Who's Freefaller?! :p

Well to me they look like amazing shots - much better than some of the things I've seen in magazines . :)

[Dr. Z]

Whoops, im so used to translating you in my head to Will and then back again to *that* to post that it happened accidentally and totally subconsciously too.

Thanks for the comments too :) Much appreciated :)

[Zirax]

Stunning pics, any chance of some copies that aren't shrunk via jpeg? Mainly for my own curiousity to see how much of a difference the shrinking makes to the pics :) The last two really grab me I must say.

Did you learn the basics yourself or did you go to a class or something?

[Dr. Z]

I dont generally release full-res images on the net. I could do you a 100% crop though if you wanted to see how detailed the shots are at full res.

I didnt go to a class or anything I just forced myself to not use the auto modes and taught myself.

[Blackstar]

*buys turtles*
Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello.
I love those little guys, am planning to go back to Dobbies to look into how big they get etc.

[Zirax]

I dont generally release full-res images on the net. I could do you a 100% crop though if you wanted to see how detailed the shots are at full res.

I didnt go to a class or anything I just forced myself to not use the auto modes and taught myself.

Sure, I was just curious as to how much the jpeq actually knocks off the image quality. Purely to satisfy my nerdy curiousity :)

[Dr. Z]

http://www.statichiss.co.uk/CRW_8128crop.jpg

Thats a 100% crop, as little JPEG compression as possible (I go straight from RAW to JPEG you see, so my whole workflow is in jpeg...)

[Zirax]

Thankyou, curiousity satisfied :D That gives me an idea of just _how_ good that camera and shot is :) The detail really is something else

[Dr. Z]

Another 100% crop for you.

http://www.statichiss.co.uk/CRW_8131crop.jpg

Its "only" 6.3MP so the resolution is a bit limited. Ideally for this stuff I would be after 8 or more but its just more and more money!! A 1DmkIIn is my ideal camera - the detail they are capable of is stunning!